Ben Fields

Name: Benjamin “Ben” Fields

Gender: Male

Age: 18

Grade: 12

School: Cochise High School

Hobbies and Interests: Baseball, Military, History, Anti-Bullying, Drama

Appearance: Ben is considerably short for his age, standing at 5’5” and weighing 128 pounds with a straight, upright posture. He has light skin, but his arms are notably a few shades darker from natural tanning. He has black hair, stylised in sectioned spikes, stuck to his head, that go down to his ears and in some areas point outwards, with black eyes. His he has an oval shaped face, with bushy eyebrows, a petite nose, and small lips. He takes great effort into taking care of his appearance, making sure that he looks presentable when he is at school and that he looks clean and professional when at an important gathering. Ben stands with a straight posture most of the time, with his back generally straight and his hands generally to his side or pulling down his shirt. When he’s with friends, however, he relaxes, and leans forward slightly when talking to people.

Ben, unless he’s at an important gathering, doesn’t generally take care in how he dresses. Plain coloured t-shirts and jeans dominate his wardrobe, his main colours being blue and green. He makes sure to dress to impress when the time’s important, though, having several pairs of formal attire, such as suits. One the day of the abduction, Ben was in his non-formal attire, wearing a blank green t-shirt, plain blue jeans, and black sports shoes.

Biography: Benjamin Fields was born on the 27th of January, 1997 to John and Stephanie Fields. Both of them went to Cochise when they were in their late teenage years, and they gained a natural attraction for each other, starting to date and then marrying later on. Ben was not an only child, with his sister, Lana, being born in September 1999. While his family is not explicitly rich, they do have money to spend, with Ben and Lana being able to buy things they need without much trouble. Ben, as someone in his late teenage years, deeply cares about his family, and tries to make sure that nothing of harm happens to them. John worked as a plumber in a local area, while Stephanie currently works as a teacher in the local middle school.

Ben was average in elementary school, somewhat easily distracted and hard to motivate if he didn't inherently enjoy the subject. He was also an attention seeker, always trying to make it so that he could be the center of attention both in and out of the playground. He'd show off with facts he found in books, though as he learned that his peers didn't like show offs this particular habit was tempered. He was always socially involved, having plenty of friends and play-dates back then. When his sister enrolled into the school system, he made sure that she was doing okay with it, and stuck up for her when she was in trouble.

He also discovered his interest in baseball during this time, and it developed into an on-and-off hobby, despite taking a break from it in the first year of middle school before joining the team. He likes the sport, finding the exercise that it brings exhilarating for him, with the feeling of success that happens when he successfully hits home base or catches a ball on the full. He is currently one of the third basemen for the Cochise Coyotes, and is a considerably good power hitter, meaning that he can be a slugger when he needs to.

Elementary school was also the time he gained an interest in history. This is mostly due to his love of mythology, and of the stories his dad used to tell him to get him to fall to sleep every night, and Lana developed a similar interest that the two of them now share. He finds the subject easy for him, with him having the ability to easily memorize dates, years, and time-frames. In particular, Ben is interested in military history of all kinds, particularly the American Civil War and the Napoleonic Wars. This stemmed into an interest in the military in general, finding the idea of joining up and representing his country exciting and patriotic, and he has considered applying to be in the military when he comes of age. It was something his father expressed pride in back when he was alive, the idea of his son serving his country. He generally spends time reading about history, with books such as Dead Famous, Horrible Histories and other non-fiction books dominating his library.

During elementary school, he also became known for not being very tolerant of some of the bullies at his school. He would often stand up for people getting bullied, and was willing to get physical with the bully, if they didn’t stop. While he never got into any actual fights, he still was fairly known as someone who would be willing to do so, sometimes getting upfront with bullies and threatening them if they didn’t change their ways. He still considers himself to be anti-bullying, and is always unhesitating to act when he sees a situation that could be construed as problematic. He has a natural tendency to judge others as a result, always keeping a critical eye on his peers and evaluating their behaviors even when it's probably none of his business. He usually keeps quiet about his thoughts on others, to save himself the trouble it might bring otherwise, but he's definitely more judgemental than his lax demeanor suggests.

When Ben was eight his father John suddenly started taking more days off work, sometimes spending entire days lying on the couch, watching TV. He would have lapses in memory, often forgetting what he was doing in the middle of doing it. Later on, his speech became slurred, and sometimes he wouldn’t be at home at all. Unbeknownst to Ben, John had been diagnosed with a brain tumor in the local hospital, treatment was already impossible at the time of diagnosis and through they tried he likely only had six months to live. His parents had both decided that it was for the best that Ben not know about his father’s possibly impending death, so that he wouldn't have to worry about it in the short term believing that he would be able to manage it in the long term; and when he took chemotherapy, and lost his hair, his mother told him that he had a very important work haircut. When he was admitted into the hospital, his mother told Ben that it was simply due to overworking, and she allowed him to visit him every couple of days.

On the 23rd of April 2005, John Fields died. Ben didn’t find out until the next day, when he was supposed to visit him. Ben, being unaware of John's terminal illness, and not having had death affect him in the past, was shocked. He withdrew socially, unable to otherwise cope. He vowed to become strong, making sure that nothing bad would happen to Lana. He soon became distrustful of his mother as well, for lying to him about his father's illness. While he trusts her again, he's come to permanently view himself as the man of the house, doing the chores that his father normally would have done such as washing the dishes or doing the heavywork. He felt like he aged very quickly in the wake of his father's death, and believes himself to be more mature than he really is. Though he considers himself moved on from it now he still mourns, taking school off on Father's Days and thinking of his dad often, sometimes against his own will.

Middle School came for Ben around this time, and he was able to adjust appropriately. While he started it off as a social recluse, he started to reach out again, returning to baseball and continuing to help people he saw bullied, though his motive and methodology was somewhat more precociously jaded this time around. He started taking his studies seriously at this point, long hours with his books to keep his grades high in order to get a high paying job later in life. His natural love for history led him to prefer subjects where fact retention was the way to proceed, he developed an inroads into law at this time. He naturally worked well with the dense jargon of the books from the library, and knew lawyers made a lot of money if they were skilled, which made it an appealing option in consideration of his family's future.

From a young age, his mother used strongly homophobic slurs and openly pronounced her religiously motivated dislike of the concept. During middle school Ben decided to adopt it to fit in at home. While he already believed that being anything other than heterosexual was a bad thing, continued exposure from his mother increased the strength of his conviction as he had little else to believe in with only one parental figure left in his life. He doesn’t persecute people for doing so but he acts visibly uncomfortable if he is near someone he believes is homosexual, as his beliefs are so ingrained his response to homosexuality as a concept is vehement. He freely uses the language at home, something that he feels unites him with his mother. He realizes that his homophobia contradicts his status on the anti-bullying committee, and he tries to keep those two aspects of himself separate. He’ll help anyone who’s being bullied, gay or otherwise, but he’ll still feel very uncomfortable and try to avoid the other person after the fact.

He joined debate in high school for his first two years, only dropping it when his baseball schedule became too rigorous to cope with the extra workload when he joined the Varsity team. Debate, to him, was a logical extension of the skills he needed to practice law. His mature demeanor made him fairly good at it, but he noted that he wasn't exactly interested in the more visceral aspects of law like argument. Sometimes he was passionate about the case and it was easy, other times he struggled and even dropped out of debates due to a lack of motivation. He sees law as academically interesting, but would likely only pursue it as a full job for the sake of money.

Another hobby that Ben picked up in high school was drama, introduced to it by a peer on the baseball team. He enjoys acting, and while he isn’t interested in choosing acting as a career due to the perceived lack of practicality, he is in the drama Club at Cochise and considers himself a decent enough actor to not mess up a part. He has a love for stoic 'badass' roles, though he often doesn't realize he's actually quite the actor and can carry other roles well. He’s not used to seeing himself in a non-serious light these day. He feels that he has a passion for it, enjoying when he is up on the stage performing in a role.

High school didn’t give much of a change to Ben, except for a change in friends and an increased motivation to study. His grades are in the high B’s/high A’s area, which he works hard to maintain. In particular, he excels at PE and History, due to finding both subjects easy for him and both being something he is good at. As mentioned earlier, he is a member of the anti-bullying committee, the baseball team, and the drama club. Ben is somewhat aloof, with a number of kids he actively avoids due to LGBT associations, but he maintains a solid core group of friends.

Even considering the fact that he is close to graduating, Ben doesn’t really know what he wants to do for a living, which leads on to what Ben thinks is his main problem in life. Ben isn’t entirely sure what he wants to do, even in his last year in high school. He has a massive amount of passion, his father’s death making him want to become rich to support his family, but he doesn’t know what he wants to do with that passion. He has considered using his hobbies to gain income, but he’s not sure which one to take, and which one he’s good at. He wants to either be a lawyer or a member of the army. He considers the latter a more practical option, as he's already spoken to a recruiter who was impressed with Ben's credentials, and taken practice ASVAB exams that he considers easy. In addition his father's patriotic pride quietly skews him towards the idea, and he'd get the opportunity to travel. It will save his mother the work of trying to put him through years of law school, though he's also diligently pursued scholarship options. Ben overall favors the idea of the military, especially since he believes he might not have the full motivation or financial security to thoroughly tackle college even if he gets in. He envisions himself as an army or marines infantryman specifically; though he's dared to be ambitious enough to consider being an officer, he doesn't think it's likely due to conceptions about the position and his own lack of motivated higher calling. Lana's vocally voiced her disapproval of him joining the army, though he considers her complaints on the matter irrelevant.

His relationship with Lana has become somewhat tenuous as of late. Lana's developed a significantly more liberal social view than he has, and though he hates to admit it some of her friends make him uncomfortable. He refuses to see her as anything besides his younger sister who needs protection, and she sometimes resents him for it, as she functionally is the smarter of the two proven by amount of effort invested into their grades.

Ben, at school, tries to act responsible. In the class, he generally tries to get work done as quickly and as efficiently as possible, although he loosens up outside the classroom when he's around friends. He has a sense of humor, though it's somewhat stoic. He tries to be what he considers a good example for others but he still sometimes struggles with issues of motivation and uncertainty about others.

Advantages: Due to being the third baseman on the baseball team, Ben is in good physical shape. He's naturally calm in demeanor and will likely be able to evaluate and manage emergency situations on the island with an advantage due to his collected nature.

Disadvantages: He easily judges and is silently condescending towards others and is quietly stubborn and arrogant about his beliefs, which may give him difficulty with some of his peers, both initially and as the situation on the island develops. He also has something of a hero complex which he does not personally acknowledge, which will likely lead him into unwittingly tunnel visioning onto decisions detrimental to his long term survival.

Designated Number: Male student No. 036

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Designated Weapon: Bag of dried chipotle chillies

Conclusion: Lesson #1 kid, there are no heroes on the island. Lesson #2, doesn't matter what shape you're in, those chillies won't save you from the barrel of a gun. - Josie Knight

'The above biography is as written by Cicada Days. No edits or alterations to the author's original work have been made.'

Evaluations
Handled by: Yugikun, Cicada Days

Kills: 

Killed By: 

Collected Weapons: Bag of dried chipotle chillies (assigned weapon, discarded)

Allies: Nate Turner, Matthew Moradi, Penelope Fitzgerald

Enemies: Henry Spencer, Alvaro Vacanti

Mid-game Evaluation: Ben found Jerry in the radio compound after wandering the island a bit. Jerry tried to confront his former teammate with his knife, but Ben was barely able to convince Jerry to stand down. Ben improvised a plan, to keep others out of trouble by force if necessary. They made solid progress on the plan, but Ben unfortunately lost Jerry quickly after. While trying to pursue Ben encountered Maxim Kehlenbrink on the outside of the library. The two stood off for a while, unaware of who the other was due to a wall in the way, before Maxim slipped while he tried to make a break for it. Ben helped him out, but adamantly refused Maxim's subsequent offers of partnership.

Ben found his way into the storage closet on the asylum second floor, and tried but failed to find words to home by camera. He was found his theater buddy Nate Turner and his then ally Matthew Moradi, they got along quickly and decided to stay the night in the closet for safety. The next morning they heard announcements, and Nate was shocked into tears. They eventually calmed down and got to planning their next moves, but were found by Henry Spencer, who had lost his supplies and was looking to share food. Ben was willing to share, as was Nate. Matt wasn't, but the four of them were able to get along besides and came up with a plan to search the asylum, Ben in particular itching for a fight.

In the transition to Day 3 Henry betrayed them during his watch and ran off with Nate's supplies. The groups morale was compromised, only further so when their wandering carried them into the basement and they found the corpse of Sanford Bricks in the water treatment rooms. Matt and Ben began to loudly and vehemently argue for payback against the killers, while Nate advocated diplomacy. Their argument was disrupted by the appearance of Alvaro Vacanti, who held them hostage with his gun. Nate and Ben tried to play diplomacy but Ben quickly gave up on the effort. He only stepped in once more when he believed the negotiations were failing, just in time to rescue Nate from Alvaro's opening shots. The bullets instead struck him in the arm. Nate and Matt escaped while Alvaro was thrown to the ground from the power of his own gun, this also bought the time for Ben to escape even though he considered taking on Alvaro once and for all.

He wandered for hours, having patched his wounds, destitute over his own cowardice. He found Penelope Fitzgerald in a solitary confinement cell and tried to approach her, but their conversation weakly devolved into silence as Ben tried to process Penelope's suicidal intents over the loss of her boyfriend Samuel Howard. The arrival of Ben's trusted school friend William McKinley did little to ease the tension at first, Ben continued to blame himself and go so far as to refuse medical aid for his wounds. But Ben finally jerked himself out of his self pity and tried to snap Penelope out of her funk by appealing to what connections she had left on Earth, her family and her idealistic plans, even if he wasn't sure if Will or even himself would go along with them in the grand scheme of things. It worked, and Ben tried to also convince Will in turn. Will had business elsewhere, but left them with kind words and some of his medical supplies for Ben, who unhesitatingly passed them on to Penelope. Ben let take Penelope take the lead, both physically and in spirit, as she announced that they'd try their hardest, even if they failed.

They refilled their water supplies with rainwater and had an uneventful Day 4 wandering the asylum, finding nobody. Ben continued to wrestle with his dark mood but put his trust in Penelope, as their talking throughout the day continued to sell him on her good character and intentions. He managed to convince her to leave a message for her family back home, though he had nothing to say when it was his turn.

Post-Game Evaluation: 

Memorable Quotes: "Shit. We probably look like dumbasses talking and cowering two inches away from each other." -- While Ben and Maxim are hidden from each other on opposite corners of the library.

"They made their decisions. Even if we talk to them what the fuck do you think they're going to say? (...) I don't think there's anything left to say, Nate." -- Ben's retort on Nate's ideas of reasoning with the island's known killers.

"Yeah. I used to think words were simple. Times change, but I guess even if speakings no longer easy... If there are no words left to describe all this shit that's been dumped on us, well. We have to try. (...) And if we have to ramble to convince others, that's what we have to do." -- Ben's musing on his future exploits with Penelope.

Other/Trivia

 * Ben's threads where he has first post follow a theme of song titles by The Killers, with a direct quote from the song as a topic description.

Threads
Below is a list of threads containing Ben, in chronological order.

Memories:
 * Enterlude
 * Where The White Boys Dance
 * Early Morning, Early Days
 * Is This It
 * A Lazy Saturday

V6 Pregame:
 * Night Shift
 * There's No Time Here In Space
 * Prize Fighter
 * The Rising Tide
 * Sam's Town
 * Sadness Augmentation
 * Romeo And Juliet

Sadie Hawkins' Dance:
 * Be Still
 * Heart of a Girl

V6:
 * Rare Footage of Jerry Worried
 * Good Omens
 * Forget About What I Said
 * Coming Out Of The Closet
 * Haunted Reality
 * See The Needy Greedy Me We Bleed To Feed So Easily
 * Hemochromatosis

Related Threads in Meanwhile:
 * Losing Touch

Your Thoughts
''Whether you were a fellow handler in SOTF or just an avid reader of the site, we'd like to know what you thought about Benjamin Fields. What did you like, or dislike, about the character? Let us know here!''